O’Donoghue confident of FF ticket

Controversial former Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue has revealed that he fully intends contesting the next general election and is confident of securing the Fianna Fáil nomination in Kerry.

The 55-year-old former minister, who lost his seat in last year’s election, confirmed yesterday he is now working to have his name back on the ballot paper.

And firing the first salvo in what is likely to be a gloves-off battle in a bitterly divided constituency, he lashed out at the three sitting Kerry South TDs, with particular criticism reserved for Independents Tom Fleming and Michael Healy-Rae who were his former colleagues in Fianna Fáil.

“The political reality is that they are powerless. They are reduced to the role of spectators,” he said.

“They can do nothing to oblige or force this Government into any position. I would go so far as to say that there is even a better chance that the Government would do the opposite to what they might propose,” added Mr O’Donoghue who resigned as Ceann Comhairle following a major controversy over his expenses.

He has been monitoring the current Dáil from the sidelines over the past year and has not been impressed.

“Unfortunately, the crowning moment for the present crop of TDs in the constituency in the past year has been to attend the opening of two hospitals that I built,” he said.

The veteran Caherciveen politician said while he fully appreciates the current need for cutbacks, his worry is that the Government has been targeting the most vulnerable people, causing great disquiet and protest meetings all over the country.

He said while he acknowledged that the former Fianna Fáil-led government made mistakes by not dealing adequately with the regulation of the financial sector or the property market, it was important to understand that great financial difficulties were being encountered right across Europe at the time.

Mr O’Donoghue said he had lost general elections before, but he passionately believes that every time he won a seat, his constituency won too.

“South Kerry needs its strongest voice and I believe I am that voice. There is not a parish across the county of Kerry where I have not left my mark. As a TD I delivered enormously,” he remarked.

He told Radio Kerry that he is not under any illusions that the Fianna Fáil party needs to be completely rebuilt, but that work has now commenced.

Mr O’Donoghue said he is confident of securing a nomination for the next general election and predicated that he will win a seat.

Mr O’Donoghue, who was first elected to the Dáil, at the fourth attempt, in 1987, retired on an annual pension of €119,000 last year after being comprehensively defeated by Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin and the two Independent TDs who had defected from Fianna Fáil.